Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the Minister has confirmed my worst fears in his statement that in the past two years the public dental service in the midlands has lost three dental surgeons. That is the issue in a nutshell. That is why the children in the midlands are losing out. This is unfair. I realise it is fashionable to knock the HSE as a national body, but the purpose of the HSE is to ensure that there is equal treatment for people across the regions and that treatment will not be based on geography. This is not just about my area. The Minister mentioned four counties in the midlands but for people who live beside Counties Kildare, Carlow and Tipperary it is not right that children from the same village are getting different treatment according to what school they attend. That is unfair.

I ask the Minister to refer back to the HSE on this issue. In cases where children in one county must go to the screening clinic in a neighbouring county, that is not a big deal. Their parents will happily do that because sometimes they are obliged to drive 20 or 30 miles to a clinic anyway. It is not fair that screening is taking place for some children a couple of times before reaching 12 years of age. The Minister has confirmed that assessments are carried out when children are aged between 11 and 13 years of age, aside from emergencies to deal with pain relief and sepsis. Children are therefore approximately 12 years old when most of them are assessed, which is just before they leave the service. I have a long list of cases in my office and I have tabled parliamentary questions on a regular basis regarding children waiting 14, 15 and 16 years for their first treatment. They are screened before they leave primary school but wait several years for treatment.

The Minister used the phrase that the children get the assessment and treatment in the one year. They get the assessment but, given that the service is down three dental surgeons, they are not getting the treatment, as the Minister is being led to believe. I am pleased that a dental surgeon is being recruited but perhaps some arrangement can be put in place for a period just to clear the backlog, as happened previously. Clinics could be opened in an area and staffed by dentists from neighbouring counties or regions to conduct a number of Saturday clinics. This happened successfully in the past. I realise there is a cost, but it would be less than the cost of having to employ a dental surgeon. I ask the Minister to consider that.

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